love like fools
by perfectlyrose
Summary: Rose Tyler was seven when she met John Smith on the playground. Years later, they were both telling themselves repeatedly that they were just friends and that's all they needed. No need to risk the best thing they had in an attempt for more. [Eleven/Rose AU]


for badrcse over on tumblr who requested an eleven/rose childhood best friends to lovers au

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Rose Tyler was seven when she met someone new on the playground. The boy was there alone, just sitting on the swingset instead of swinging. Rose immediately went to talk to him and found out his name was John Smith and he'd just moved to the Estate to live with his aunt and didn't know anyone. Rose pointed out that he knew her now and hopped onto the swing next to him and challenged him to a contest of who could go higher.

When school started in the fall Rose and John had already declared themselves best friends. Rose took John's hand and led him to their class on the first day and John couldn't find it in himself to be scared of starting somewhere new when he had Rose with him.

They were eleven and hanging out on the roof of one of the Estate buildings on a sunny Thursday afternoon. John had his nose buried in a science book that the teacher had lent him after he kept causing disruptions during her lessons because he was bored. Rose was ignoring the set of maths problems that had been assigned in favor of sketching her best friend while he wasn't paying attention.

Eventually her mum called them both down to eat, interrupting their giggle-filled, live-action reenactment of the story John had told during English class about aliens attacking London and making them return to the reality of school night bedtimes and maths homework.

They were sixteen and giggling on the roof again. It had been their place for years. It was where they went to escape the rest of the world and talk and be generally ridiculous and pretend that they could touch the clouds, touch the stars.

John had hit a growth spurt in the last few months, shooting up like a weed. Rose kept telling him that he looked like a baby horse or a giraffe or something, all those long limbs and no idea how to use them. They both laughed when he tripped over his own feet at the slightest provocation and he discovered that if he made his trip into a dramatic twirl or bow or whatnot he could get Rose to laugh hard enough that she'd end up hanging onto his arm.

He ended up doing that a lot, wanting to be as close to Rose as possible because Rose was growing up too but not in a way he could laugh at. No, she wasn't becoming awkward and gangly like he was, no, she was just starting to attract looks from more people in the hallways and gaining confidence. John had always thought she was pretty but he had about swallowed his tongue when she showed up to the pool in a bikini that summer.

She was his best friend though and he wasn't going to say or do anything that might jeopardize that. So friends, the best of friends, they remained. Rose still grabbed his hand and took off running sometimes, eager to show him something and he continued to show off when she was around, making a spectacle of himself just to make her laugh.

They both told themselves repeatedly that they were just friends and that's all they needed. No need to risk the best thing they had in an attempt for _more_.

(But Rose had sketchbooks full of John that he'd never seen and John carefully hoarded each glancing touch and careless kiss on a cheek from Rose in his memory in vivid technicolor.)

Their last year of school started and they both avoided the topic of uni, not wanting to think about how likely it was that they'd end up at different places. There was a shift between them though that was born of the feeling that time was running out. There were more lunch periods spent at a table by themselves instead of with their friends and more walks through the hallways with their arms linked together.

They spent more time on the roof talking about the universe and pretended they didn't hear the rumors about the two of them being a couple.

Rose went on a few dates with a friend from the Estate who was a couple years older and had skipped uni in favor of having a steady job at the mechanic's shop.

John went on a couple dates with the girl a year below them that had been relentlessly pursuing him for the last few months.

They both pretended they weren't miserable when the other told them about their dates.

Everything came to a head when John went up to the roof on his own while Rose was supposed to be on a date with her mechanic and found her sitting there on her own, crying. He hesitated for just a moment before going to her side and wrapping an arm around her.

Rose curled into him, resting her head on his chest right over his heart as she continued to cry.

Neither said anything as her tears turned into sniffles. John just held her and let whatever she was feeling run its course.

Without moving from where she was practically sitting in John's lap with her face buried in his chest, Rose haltingly told him that she'd had a fight with Mickey as soon as she'd shown up for their date. She wouldn't tell him what it was about or what was said beyond the fact that she'd been accused of leading Mickey on.

That and the fact that Rose was crying was enough to make John, who normally abhorred violence, want to go punch the other man in the face. He just tugged Rose closer, wrapping both arms around her and tucking her head under his chin.

They stayed like that for a long while, silent except for the occasional sniffle from Rose.

When John started fidgeting a little bit, playing with the ends of Rose's hair and tapping out the shared rhythm of their heartbeats against her hip, Rose laughed and told him that she should've remembered that he was incapable of staying still for long.

She slid off of him and John wanted to protest but couldn't.

Rose jumped up to sit on the concrete block in the middle of the roof that they'd been leaning against and said she was going to stay up here for a bit before going home and facing her mum but that John should go since his aunt was expecting him home for dinner.

John gave her a wan smile and asked if she was sure she was alright to which he received a swat on the shoulder and an "of course I'm alright, I've got you, don't I?" as his answer.

It was the kind of sentiment that they'd exchanged multiple times over the course of their friendship but it was never really acknowledged. Neither of them had dared to put it in a romantic context when they were busy trying to convince the other that there were only strong platonic feelings between them.

Her words warmed him though and gave him that tiny bit of courage that he'd been lacking. He tilted his head down and looked up at her through his fringe that was getting a bit long. He stumbled over his words but he told her that she _did_ have him and that anyone who gave Rose up was an idiot of the highest degree because he didn't know how someone could have that chance with her and just throw it away.

The silence that followed his words was the tensest void that had ever managed to exist between them in their eleven years of friendship.

John was about to backpedal and try to play it off as something that it wasn't but then Rose smiled. It was his favorite smile, his smile, the one that was wide and wild and tender all at the same time.

"You know, anyone would be an idiot to pass you up, too," she said. "And you've got me as much as I've got you."

John could feel something like hope building in his heart and tingling across his skin.

"Maybe it's time we did something about it," she continued, holding out her hand to him.

He stepped forward and took it, lacing their fingers together as he rested his forehead against hers. Rose bumped her nose against his and whispered that she'd been wanting to do this for ages but had been scared.

"Me too," he whispered back.

They lingered for a moment, their breath mingling as they hesitated on taking that final step and closing the gap between their lips. This is what they both wanted but what if it ruined everything? What if it was a mistake?

What if, what if, what if? It was on a loop in both of their heads but John grabbed onto that little bit of courage that had prompted him to speak in the first place and pressed his lips to hers.

They stayed on the roof for another hour and a half, discovering and reveling in this new sensation that felt so right, like it was just an extension of their friendship instead of something new, and laughing at themselves for taking so long to figure out that they'd practically been pining for each other for over a year.

John's aunt came up to the roof looking for John and found them kissing languidly. They didn't notice her so she left as quietly as she came and went to go tell Jackie that their kids had finally figured out that they were in love.


End file.
